5 things to know about progress in development of the Port of Muskegon

MUSKEGON, MI – Big wheels are turning at the Port of Muskegon development committee.

Here are some highlights from the Port Advisory Committee's Wednesday, Aug. 26 meeting:

Muskegon County Economic Development Coordinator Jonathan Wilson said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had promised a grant of $605,000 for a new public safety boat in the Port of Muskegon. "We were awarded the biggest grant for FEMA in the state," Wilson said. Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler said that the boat would have firefighting water guns on the front and back, giving his department the ability to fight bigger fires in boats on the lake. The sheriff's boat in Muskegon Lake right now would be moved to White Lake as a result, he said.

Port officials hope to get the port of Muskegon on the schedule for a visiting group of Dutchmen. The tour, being planned by the West Michigan Global Initiative, will introduce businessmen from the seafaring Netherlands to West Michigan. Committee members are angling to get the Port of Muskegon, West Michigan's largest deep water port, on the schedule. "I thought it really was probably going to be a great opportunity to showcase what Muskegon has," said committee chairman Terry Sabo. Business delegations have traveled several times between Michigan and the Netherlands over the last few years. "It has been fruitful with the other trips and delegations that have come," said Congressman Bill Huizenga.

One vision for what the Port of Muskegon could be in the future was presented. Committee member Dennis Marvin, who is communication manager for Consumer's Energy, presented a vision for the Port of Muskegon as one part of a multi-modal transportation hub. The hub could use river barges, container ships, rail and air cargo to become a transportations hub. Different parts of the port could be managed by public-private partnerships rather than wholly public agencies like a port authority. "This isn't cast in cement, but it's just a framework for how we could think about the government structure," he said. Sabo seemed to like that idea. "Really, the private sector is one that is going to drive all of this," he said.

As previously reported, Muskegon was given a chance to host the American Great Lakes Ports Association 2015 summer meeting, and attendees were already working on ways to accommodate the group, reserving a block of hotel rooms and inquiring into boats that were available to tour the port.

It was only briefly mentioned at the meeting, but Aug. 25 was the deadline for comments to the U.S. Coast guard about receiving Mississippi river barges. A total of 87 comments were received on a special load line-exempted route on Lake Michigan that would allow non-load line river barges to transit along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, between Chicago (Calumet Harbor), Ill., and Muskegon, similar to an emption between Calumet and Milwaukee, Wis. Among some of the supporters were several governmental units from the Muskegon area, Ottawa County Government, and local lawmakers. State Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright was in support: "The Muskegon deep water port offers unique opportunities for development of cost-effective transportation of agricultural products, renewable energy, manufacturing and other industries in Muskegon and Michigan." Nunica's Daniel Byers, age 67, was against it. "I have seen the great devastation to the lakes caused by the opening of the St. Laurence sea way," Byers said. "That is to say, from the introduced invasive species, lampreys, zebra mussels, Quagga mussels, and water pollution." American Waterways Operators asked "the Coast Guard to establish a Risk Assessment Work Group to determine whether non-load line river barges can safely operate between Chicago (Calumet), IL and Muskegon, MI, as was done previously for the route from Calumet to Milwaukee, WI."